Part I
D: For Whom? The Need for Human Rights Education

Why Human Rights Education?

Human rights are highly inspirational and also highly practical,
embodying the hopes and ideals of most human beings and also empowering
people to achieve them. Human rights education shares those inspirational
and practical aspects. It sets standards but also produces change. Effective
human rights education can 

Produce changes in values and attitude

Produce changes in behavior

Produce empowerment for social justice

Develop attitudes of solidarity across issues, communities, and nations

Develop knowledge and analytical skills

Encourage participatory education.

Active Citizenship

Human rights education is essential to active citizenship in a democratic
and pluralistic civil society. Citizens need to be able to think critically,
make moral choices, take principled positions on issues, and devise
democratic courses of action. Participation in the democratic process
means, among other things, an understanding and conscious commitment
to the fundamental values of human rights and democracy, such as equality
and fairness, and being able to recognize problems such as racism,
sexism, and other injustices as violations of those values. Active
citizenship also means participation in the democratic process, motivated
by a sense of personal responsibility for promoting and protecting
the rights of all. But to be engaged in this way, citizens must first
be informed.

Informed Activism

Learning is also essential to human rights activism. Only people
who understand human rights will work to secure and defend them for
themselves and others. Peter Benenson, who first envisioned Amnesty
International, believed that if people knew about "the forgotten
prisoners," they would be moved to action and that publicity
campaigns based on accurate evidence would serve as the most effective
means of embarrassing repressive governments and thus protecting their
citizens. This idea has proved one of the great mobilizing forces
of the late twentieth century. Educating the public through reliable,
objective, and timely information is a principal strategy of organizations
like Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch.

Just as civil society depends upon such concerned citizens, human
rights organizations depend on informed members. However, even activists
are largely self-taught about human rights, informing themselves because
they care about an issue, and usually the more they know, the more
committed they become to working for change. Recognizing that the
better informed the activists, the more effective their activism,
human rights organizations must continually educate their members,
new and old, not only about issues, but also about the history, mandate,
and policies of the organization; how it works; and how to work for
it. Furthermore, activists must themselves serve as catalysts for
human rights learning in their own schools, workplaces, and neighborhoods.

The Need for Human Rights Education in the United
States

In 1997 Human Rights USA, a partnership for human rights education,
conducted a national survey on the knowledge level and attitudes of
people in the USA on human rights. The results showed that only 8%
of adults and 4% of young people are aware of and can name the Universal
Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR). Although over 90% of the population
remains ignorant of the most basic human rights document, every day
the media bring human rights crises into living rooms in the US. This
contrast speaks graphically of the contemporary disassociation of
knowledge and information.

The survey also revealed that a large majority (83%) felt that the
USA should do more to live up to the principles of the UDHR. Nearly
two-thirds (63%) of those polled felt that the poor were routinely
discriminated against in US society, as well as the disabled (61%),
the elderly (54%), gays and lesbians (61%), Native Americans (50%)
and African Americans (41%).11

The Need for Human Rights Education in Local Communities

Once people grasp human rights concepts, they begin to look for
their realization in their own lives, examining their communities,
families, and personal experience through a human rights lens. In
many cases people find these values affirmed, but human rights education
can also lead to a recognition of unrealized injustices and discriminations.
This sensitization to human rights in everyday life underscores the
importance of not only learning about human rights but also
learning for human rights: people need to know how to bring
human rights home, responding appropriately and effectively to violations
in their own communities. See "Taking the Human Rights Temperature
of Your School," p. 90, for an example of a survey that can easily
be adapted to evaluate the human rights climate of a community or
institution.

Does Human Rights Education Work?

Evaluation methodologies for human rights education are still in
the developmental stage (See Part VI, "Evaluating Human Rights
Programs," p. 135), and evidence of its effectiveness
are still largely anecdotal, the personal observations of practitioners
from both the formal and informal sectors. However, a 1997 study conducted
by The Search Institute and Minnesota Advocates for Human Rights yielded
impressive concrete results. Cognitive and behavioral outcomes were
measured at a Minneapolis public elementary school where some students
received no human rights education, some had three lessons a week,
and others participated in a program in which human rights were fully
integrated into both the curriculum and the culture of the classroom.12

Change in self-report of knowledge
of human rights and related issues

Furthermore, students self-reported "feelings
of concern when others were disparaged because they looked or behaved
differently" showed an even greater increase.

Changes in self report of
feeling bothered when people put down others because of differences*

Most significant were the behavioral outcomes,
which indicated a striking reduction in inappropriate behaviors among
students receiving human rights education, with a clear distinction
between students receiving disparate lessons and those participating
in an integrated human rights education program.

This study documents the success of only a single
program, but its impressive results illustrate the need for development
in this area of human rights education. Individual educators and organizations
believe in the effectiveness of human rights education on the basis
of their subjective experiences, but few studies exist in any part
of the world to offer concrete, objective evidence. Educators need
this information not only to identify effective methodologies and
refine their practice, but also to convince decision-makers, such
as educational authorities, boards of nongovernmental organizations,
and funders, of the efficacy of human rights education. For concrete
suggestions on evaluation methodologies see Part VI, "Evaluating
Human Rights Programs," p. 135.

THE AUDIENCE FOR HUMAN RIGHTS EDUCATION

Who needs human rights education? The simple
answer is, of course, everyone. However, human rights education is
especially critical for some groups.

Young children and their parents: Educational
research shows conclusively that attitudes about equality and human
dignity are largely set before the age of ten. Human rights education
cannot start too young. Indeed, some of the most creative and effective
human rights educators are found in pre-school and primary classes.

Teachers, principals, and educators of all
kinds: No one should be licensed to enter the teaching profession
without a fundamental grounding in human rights, especially the Conven
tion on the Rights of the Child (CRC). What a difference might be
made in children's lives if teachers consistently honored the child's
right to express opinions and obtain information (CRC Article 13)
or imposed school discipline consistent with the child's human dignity
(CRC Article 28).

Veteran teachers present a particular challenge
because human rights education involves not only new information,
but also introduces attitudes and methodologies that may challenge
their accustomed authority in the classroom. Nevertheless, most teachers
around the world share a common trait: a genuine concern for children.
This motivation and a systematic in-service training program linked
to recertification or promotion can achieve a basic knowledge of human
rights for all teachers.

Teachers do not work in isolation, however.
To succeed, human rights education requires the endorsement and support
of the whole educational system, including those who oversee continuing
education, who license or certify teachers, who set curriculum standards
and content, and who evaluate students, teachers, and schools. These
officials are as unlikely as anyone else to have knowledge of human
rights, and they too need to achieve "human rights literacy."

Doctors and nurses, lawyers and judges, social
workers, journalists, police, and military officials: Some people
urgently need to understand human rights because of the power they
wield or the positions of responsibility they hold, but even social
elites seldom receive human rights education, formally or informally.
Human rights courses should be fundamental to the curriculum of medical
schools, law schools, universities, police and military academies,
and other professional training institutions.

Especially vulnerable populations: Human
rights education must not be limited to formal schooling. Many people
never attend school. Many live far from administrative centers. Yet
they, as well as refugees, minorities, migrant workers, indigenous
peoples, the disabled, and the poor, are often among the most powerless
and vulnerable to abuse. Such people have no less right to know their
rights and far greater need.

Only by working in collaboration with these
vulnerable groups can human rights educators develop programs that
accommodate their needs and situations. The techniques of popular
educationmusic, street theater, comic books, alternative media,
and itinerant storytellerscan help to connect human rights to
people's lived experience.

Activists and non-profit organizations:
Many human rights activists are not solidly grounded in the human
rights framework and many human rights scholars know next to nothing
about the strategies of advocacy. Few people working in nongovernmental
organizations (NGOs) recognize that they may be engaged in human rights
work, and even human rights advocates usually acquire their knowledge
and skills by self-teaching and direct experience. Especially in the
United States, where social and economic justice is rarely framed
in human rights language, many activists who work on issues like fair
wages, health care, and housing fail to understand their work in a
human rights context or recognize their solidarity with other workers
for social and economic justice.

Public office holders, whether elected or
appointed: In a democracy no one can serve the interests of the
people who does not understand and support human rights. People should
require all candidates for election, from the head of state to the
local council member, to make a public commitment to human rights.
And human rights should be included in the orientation of all new
office holders.

Power holders: This group includes members
of the business and banking community, landowners, traditional and
religious leaders, and anyone whose decisions and policies affect
many peoples' lives. As possessors of power, they are often highly
resistant, regarding human rights as a threat to their position and
often working directly or indirectly to impede human rights education.
To reach those in power, human rights need to be presented as benefiting
the community and themselves, offering long-term stability and furthering
development. To avoid misperceptions of the goals and content of human
rights education, facilitators might arrange a presentation for community
leaders or invite them to observe a workshop in session.

11 For details on the Human Rights USA study conducted
by Peter D. Hart Associates, go to http://www.hrusa.org.12 For details on the HRE study conducted by the
Minnesota Advocates for Human Rights and the Search Institute,go to
http://www.hrusa.org. 13 For this study inappropriate behaviors were defined
as follows: